Pie Crust in a Food Processor-MAGIC!

Thanks to this video I now make a lot more pies!  It's so simple.  I have a couple different recipes I have tried and they all work great in the food processor. Try it!

This fall one Sunday afternoon we went to a local farm and picked BLUEBERRIES, BLACK BERRIES and GREEN BEANS.  Blueberries are so delicious here and are grown on a lot of farms.  The next day I made about 6 pies! Yummy to pull out of the freezer.

Our Princess Turns 5

This is a poem I wrote shortly after we brought Malaya home five years ago today...I dug it out after not reading it for a couple of years and was amazed how all the details are still etched in my memory.

THE MOMENT

It was a Sunday morning at church.

July thirtieth, two thousand-five.

An ordinary day for the Blakely's.

A friend, Julie, gave me an email to read.

As I read tiny goose bumps covered my arms.

A baby girl- could it be, she was meant for me!

During the service I passed the e-mail to Jeff.

You need to read this.

Don’t ask me any questions, just read it.

My heart was wondering, would he feel the same?

Intently he read it, every line.  His first response was.

You need to call them; I hope we still have time!

That night I answered with a reply.

Not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

Monday went by, Tuesday went by. 

On Wednesday we couldn’t wait any longer.

Please tell us about this baby girl so small.

We think of her constantly and listen for your call.

A response came the next day, Thursday.

We’ve found a home for her, but thanks for your reply.

There are a few loose ends to tie-up.

We’ll let you know if anything changes.

But please consider another wait.

It had already been five years to date!

It was so hard to let thoughts of a baby girl go.

A little girl would have made our family complete.

We had tried four more times for another IVF child.

One week more and we would be entering # five.

With the doctors saying, give it one last try.

We knew another chunk of money, it would take to buy.

On Monday morning to my great surprise - an e-mail!

Baby A is again looking for a home.

The first family said it was not meant to be.

Please look at her profile. Let us know.

Instantly we answered, YES! No questions asked.

Goose bumps were back! Could it be, a baby girl, at last!

That night came the first phone call from Hope Services.

The director Lorne said he really felt,

You were meant to be in our home.

We scheduled a meeting for Wednesday.

Meanwhile, we were running to complete paperwork galore.

Counting the hours – feeling our hearts soar.

That Wednesday we meet the team.

They asked us many questions on parenting, life and love.

We told them our story of the hope for a family.

Then they told us of another couple.

Anxiously waiting in the wings.

We felt our hearts drop - filled with our hopes and dreams.

That night I e-mailed again

Giving them our plea - that already

You had taken such a piece of our hearts.

The next day came an e-mail with a list of reasons why.

This baby girl – we feel is meant to be

A part of your wonderful family

Now, so many questions, so little sleep.

When?  Where?  How long?

Do we tell Nolan?  Who do we call?

So few answers and now our hearts

A little more guarded wanting all to be complete

WHEN - this baby girl - will we meet?

Updating our home study was the major wait.

The social worker was away.

Then out of the blue on Saturday at 1:00pm.

We were late leaving for the beach.

A call from Ann (Hope) – Do you want to meet your baby girl?

How fast can you be here? We were out the door in a whirl!

The drive to Abbotsford was so long.

Can you believe it is finally here?

Two weeks of waiting and not knowing for sure.

At last we were at the door.

Then the MOMENT we saw your face, we knew,

You were God’s gift to us – you‘d found your place!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique -Disney World

I'm no CAKE BOSS!

I recently retired from child care after 20 years.  I am so grateful to now be at home working for my family. Which means as a mom we cook it seems 3 times a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!  For me I find trying to add a creative edge to it or at least attemping new things keeps it interesting

My favorite channels these days are FOOD Network and TLC.  For educational purposes of coarse which makes it acceptable practice at 1pm in the afternoon!

I try and make a cake for each of my kids birthday's.  Malaya this year was the Princess/Butterfly cake. Here are a few of my favorite attempts at cake decorating etc (at least the ones I remembered to take a picture of).,,,but I'n no CAKE BOSS!  Maybe I need a commercial kitchen and a team of artists...